The president of Ecuador has dismissed the allegations against Julian Assange by claiming that a man who shares a bed with a woman cannot be accused of rape.

Rafael Correa said the accusations would not be considered crimes in '90 to 95 per cent of the planet' and questioned the behaviour and motives of the alleged victims.

The WikiLeaks founder was granted asylum by Ecuador 11 days ago after fleeing to its embassy in West London.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa speaking during one of his weekly broadcasts. He suggested Assange's alleged actions do not amount to crime

The 41-year-old is wanted in Sweden over claims that he sexually assaulted two women.

He is alleged to have had sex with one while she slept without using a condom, after the pair had already had consensual sex.

Wanted: Assange prepares to make a statement outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London earlier this month. He has been given asylum at the Embassy

A second woman claims to have tried
'several times to reach for a condom' but Assange stopped her by holding
down her arms. He denies the claims.

Asked how allegedly using force during
sex could not be a crime, the Left-wing president reportedly answered:
'A woman he was staying with? Sleeping together in the same bed? Let's
pass on this and leave it to the Swedish justice system.

'But not to use a condom in an act between a couple, this is not a crime in Latin America.'

Correa also questioned why the woman
who claims to have been attacked did not 'abandon' or 'denounce' Assange
but instead remained in the same house.

This weekend, a photo also emerged of one of the women posing alongside Assange 48 hours after she claims he assaulted her.

The picture was taken on August 15,
2010, at the Glenfiddich restaurant in Stockholm, at a dinner of
meatballs and schnapps hosted by Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of the
Swedish Pirate Party, which campaigns for greater government
transparency.

Asylum: A man walks past a barrier with Free Julian Assange posters opposite the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Assange has been taking refuge there since June 19

Asking why one of the women had
apparently called her alleged attacker a 'supercool guy' after the
assault, Correa added: 'Then how did [Assange] become a rapist by 8
o'clock the next morning? It is very suspicious.'

However, the president insisted Ecuador's decision to grant asylum to the Australian was unrelated to the women's claims.

Assange, having exhausted all his
legal options in Britain to avoid extradition to Sweden, walked into the
Ecuadorian embassy on June 19 and claimed asylum.

He alleges that if he is extradited to Sweden he risks being sent to the US to be tried.

Over the past 18 months a federal
grand jury has been investigating links between the whistleblower group
WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning, a private in the US army who faces court
martial for disclosing highly sensitive documents.

Correa's defence of Assange comes
after similar remarks by George Galloway, the Respect MP, who said the
complaints were 'not rape as anyone with any sense can possibly
recognise it'.

On Saturday Correa also said that the
embassy standoff was 'over' after it had previously claimed Britain was
considering storming the building to seize Assange.

In a statement, Ecuador's government
said it had received 'a communication from the British Foreign Office
which said there was no threat to enter the embassy'.